Ukraine Receives First Batch of Deceased Soldiers’ Remains from Russia
(MENAFN) Ukraine announced on Wednesday that it has taken delivery of the initial group of deceased soldiers’ remains from Russia, part of a prisoner and body exchange deal forged during last week’s direct peace talks in Istanbul.
The Turkish city hosted the second round of negotiations on June 2, following the first meeting held there on May 16, aimed at de-escalating the conflict between the two nations.
In the latest discussions, both parties agreed to increase the prisoner of war exchange, prioritizing the youngest and critically wounded, alongside the repatriation of the remains of 6,000 soldiers from each side.
The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed in a Telegram statement, “As a result of the repatriation measures, the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine.”
According to the statement, the recovered bodies include servicemen who had been deployed in Ukraine’s eastern and southern hotspots — Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — as well as in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a military incursion last August.
In April, Russia claimed it had fully expelled Ukrainian forces from Kursk, and subsequently announced control over several settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, bordering Kursk. Kyiv disputes full withdrawal from Kursk but acknowledges the challenging conditions there.
The statement also noted that the recovery and transfer of the bodies involved coordination among various Ukrainian government agencies and expressed gratitude to the International Committee of the Red Cross for its support.
“Investigators of law enforcement agencies, together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will establish the identities of the deceased as soon as possible,” the statement added.
Russia has not officially confirmed the exchange, though Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a briefing that Moscow is upholding its commitments under the Istanbul agreements and expects Ukraine to reciprocate.
On Sunday, a Russian negotiator reported to a news agency that Moscow had delivered the remains of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers to the designated exchange location.
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